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Business Plan
ELC Pro Bono Network Business Plan Outline Note: *March 12 date for rough drafts of sections. 'Mission / Need' Draft Section: Mission / Need / Pain (Brad) *A) Promote economic development + entrepreneurship as anti-poverty measures **Community impact / need *B) Expand pro bono participation **With screening / intake, work / services *C) Training opportunities for attorneys in transition **New to profession **Changing Areas **Intra-firm team building 'Team' Draft Section: Team (Matt / Mark) Note: the document with original formatting is uploaded to Dropbox. The ELC has not yet identified specific individuals to lead the effort to establish or operate a transactional pro bono intermediary (TPBI). Accordingly, this section describes roles, with some attention to specific individuals that the ELC has contacted. TPBI Advisory Group For the startup phase, the ELC envisions forming an advisory group of 3-6 individuals with strong Denver and Boulder ties to the following circles: (1) active pro bono groups, firms, and networks; (2) transactional or business law attorneys; and (3) economic development professionals and organizations. Goals for the advisory group: *Generate buy-in among the three circles listed above *Seek and establish an organizational home for the TPBI *Provide feedback to ELC students formulating TPBI structure and operations Priority Tasks for the advisory group: *Reach out to key decision-makers and influencers in the three circles to generate buy-in and involvement *Articulate the need and disseminate the message *Explore fit with potential organizational homes or the feasibility of a new organization *Confer with ELC students about proposed structure and operations Operational Team The exact contours of the operational team will depend somewhat on developments during the startup phase. The ELC envisions the operational team serving the following functions: *Relationship Maintenance – The team will need to maintain relationships with law firms, other pro bono networks, business law groups, and economic development organizations. *Oversight and Troubleshooting – The team should observe trends in attorney participation and client sourcing in order to steer the TPBI and handle problems that arise. *Marketing – The TPBI will need ongoing efforts to increase visibility and credibility. *Coordination – Although some of the coordination of pro bono services could be automated, the TPBI will likely require some amount of live coordination between attorneys or firms and small businesses or economic development organizations. Coordination may be necessary to fill gaps, match need to service provision, or address unusual logistics. *Technical Support – The TPBI will require some amount of web/IT support and possibly fundraising, accounting, or HR support, depending on structure and finances. The ELC espouses a lean model for the TPBI. Initially, the team could include volunteers, law students, and members of existing pro bono organizations or networks. Contacted Individuals Based on discussions with the following individuals, the ELC believes that they may be interested in participating in an advisory group or helping to form one. *Candace Whitaker (Faegre Pro Bono Coordinator) *Matt Stamski (Faegre Corporate Associate) 'Product' Draft Section: Product (Sara / JD) *''Stage 1'' **Pitch / buy-in presentations to attorneys **Law firm / organizational sponsorship (e.g., ACC) **Partnerships with other similar organizations (See Competitors) *''Stage 2'' **Office Hours **Presentations **"Matchmaking" **Intake interviews **Discrete project work by volunteer law firm attorneys **Secure wiki website *''Stage 3'' **Discrete project work by in-house attorneys **Training for young attorneys / attorneys in transition 'Market / Buy-in' Draft Section: Market / Buy-in (Matt / Kendria) *Objective criteria used for clients *Presentation / pitch content (?) 'Operations / Growth' Draft Section: Operations / Growth (Angela / Dave) *''Stage 1'' – Planning **Designing basic product, sustainability, buy-in pitches, mock-up *''Stage 2'' – Execution **Time frame (Fall 2012 start) **Cost (See Financing) **Processes / forms - for screening clients, interviewing attorneys, etc. **Screening / attorneys / client list (on website / secure wiki) (See Product) *''Stage 3'' – Growth **Time frame (estimated 2013) **Cost (See Financing) **Separate Non-profit 501©(3) status (?) **Processes / forms - for hiring staff attorneys, etc. 'Marketing' Draft Section: Marketing (Scott / Corey) *Link on sponsor organization websites (e.g., ACC) *Advertise in newsletters (e.g., Law Week Colorado, local bar association newsletters, etc.) *Reach out to pro-bono coordinators of firms with annual pro-bono requirements *Contact heads of relevant sections of state-wide and local bar associations **Can they help spread the word at future meetings and/or e-mails to section members? ** *Process of recruiting sponsors *Recruitment events **Startup Colorado(?) 'Competition' Draft Section: Competition (Heather / Josh) *Legal Services for Entrepreneurs in San Francisco (See Dave) *Metro Volunteer Lawyers (See Mark) *LegalCORPS (in Minnesota) *Colorado Lawyers for the Arts *Startup Colorado (See Kendria (?)) **Sheridan Ross **Dorsey Whitney **Baker Hostetler **Faegre Baker Daniels (maybe) *"PTO pro bono in Denver" project (See Kendria) **Partnering with Mi Casa, providing IP pro bono network **Ben Fernandez (organizing; alum) (See Kendria) *PIIPA (Public Interest Intellectual Property Advisors - www.piipa.org) (See Danny Sherwinter in Attorney Feedback) *IIPI (International Intellectual Property Institute - iipi.org) (See Danny Sherwinter in Attorney Feedback) *Cornell(?) *Colorado "lo bono"(?) (See Matt) 'Financing' Draft Section: Financing (Nate / Paul) *''Stage 1'' **Recruitment events (?) (could be sponsored by law firms, could tag-along with Startup Colorado events?) *''Stage 2'' **Secure wiki site payments / costs (open source options?) **ELC pro bono home website (on sponsor organization site?) ***Web hosting costs (sponsored by Silicon Flatirons / ACC?) **Website design / development costs (CU CS student project v. simple CMS Wordpress set-up) *''Stage 3'' **Fundraising process (e.g., which team members raise money, where / how much / from whom) **Malpractice insurance **Cost / process of using work-study funds of law student support staff (Stage 2?) **Cost of full-time / part-time attorney 'Risk Factors' Draft Section: Risk Factors (Brad) Section Drafts 'Draft: Mission / Need' (Brad) 'Draft: Team' (Matt / Mark) 'Draft: Product' (Sara / JD) 'Draft: Market / Buy-in' (Matt / Kendria) 'Draft: Operations / Growth' (Angela / Dave) 'Draft: Marketing' (Scott / Corey) 'Draft: Competition' (Heather / Josh) The most comparable organizations to our business model are the Legal Services for Entrepreneurs in San Francisco and LegalCORPS in Minnesota, which both provide transactional legal services to low-income, for-profit businesses. They both act as a matchmaking service between clients and volunteer attorneys. Although there are several legal pro-bono networks in Colorado, none of them specifically serve the same transactional work for lifestyle businesses. 'Draft: Financing' (Nate / Paul) 'Draft: Risk Factors' (Brad)